Chapter 6-Management Skills Of Leadership And Motivation

Question 1

What is leadership?

Answer 1

Leadership refers to the ability to influence other people to go in a particular direction and achieve a particular goal

Question 2

What is corporate (or organisational) culture?

Answer 2

Corporate (or organisational) culture refers to the general atmosphere and patterns of behaviour within a workplace

Question 3

What is Delegation?

Answer 3

Delegation means giving authority for carrying out tasks to others

Question 4

What are the benefits of delegations?

Answer 4

Managers do not have to do all the work themselves, managers experience less stress, staff gain experience, staff become more skilled and flexible and work gets done faster

Question 5

Why do some managers do not delegate?

Answer 5

Some managers believe that staff may not be able to do the work to the standard require or that they fear that staff may be able to do the work far better and so undermine the manager’s own status

Question 6

What are the three main types of leadership style?

Answer 6

Autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire

Question 7

What are Autocratic leaders like?

Answer 7

Autocratic (or authoritarian) leaders do not like sharing their authority with subordinates but prefer to make most of the decisions themselves.

Question 8

What are the Advantages of an autocratic style?

Answer 8

Decisions are made quickly, work gets done the way the manager wants,, suits organisation or situations where discipline is important and can be useful in a crisis or emergency situation

Question 9

What are the disadvantages of an autocratic style?

Answer 9

Managers can become overloaded with work and stress, staff get little training or experience in decisions making and may become de-motivated and a lack of trust in staff can lead to industrial relations conflict

Question 10

What are democratic leaders like?

Answer 10

Democratic leaders are willing to discuss issues with staff and to delegate power and responsibility where necessary

Question 11

What are the advantages of democratic leadership?

Answer 11

Better quality decisions, more time and less stress for managers, staff are more motivated and maintain good industrial relations and promote staff initiative and intrapreneurship

Question 12

What are the disadvantages of democratic leadership?

Answer 12

Slower decision-making and quality of decision-making may decline if managers try to take too many opinions on board

Question 13

What are laissez-faire leaders like?

Answer 13

Laissez-faire leadership involves giving staff general goals and targets to aim for and then giving them the authority to achieve these in whatever way they think best.

Question 14

What are the advantages of laissez-faire?

Answer 14

Speedy decisions can be made, it challenges and motivates staff to give their best and intrapreneurship is encouraged

Question 15

What are the disadvantages of laissez-faire?

Answer 15

Inexperienced staff may be unable to handle responsibility and lack of supervision and control can result in poor or reckless decisions being made

Question 16

What is motivation?

Answer 16

Motivation is the willingness of people to work hard and to contribute their best effort

Question 17

Name two important theories of motivation used by leaders to motivate people

Answer 17

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

Question 18

What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

Answer 18

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs says that all human needs can be arranged in a hierarchy (or pyramid) in order of their importance.

Question 19

What are the advantages of Maslow’s theory?

Answer 19

Recognises that people are motivated by more than money, different things motivate different people at different times, provides leaders and managers with a way to identify the need for different types of motivations for staff

Question 20

What are the disadvantages of Maslow’s theory?

Answer 20

People are very complex and the theory may not adequately explain everyone’s motivation and in real life people do not just satisfy one need at a time

Question 21

What is McGregor’s theory of motivation?

Answer 21

That managers could be grouped according to their attitude to motivating staff, having either a Theory X attitude of a Theory Y attitude

Question 22

What do Theory X managers believe about employees?

Answer 22

They are lazy and dislike work, have no ambition, dislike change and are only motivated by money

Question 23

What do Theory X managers believe they should do?

Answer 23

Only offer financial incentives and material rewards, closely supervise staff, avoid consulting with staff and threaten staff with sanctions.

Question 24

What does Theory Y believe about employees?

Answer 24

Employees can enjoy work, have ambition, are open to change and are motivated by more than money

Question 25

What do Theory Y managers believe they should do?

Answer 25

Provide interesting and challenging work, provide staff with freedom, consult regularly with staff and provide plenty of encouragement and praise

Question 26

What are the disadvantages of McGregor’s Theory X (Controller) attitude to management?

Answer 26

Reduced motivation, less creativity, poor reputation, higher staff turnover and reduced profitability

Question 27

What are the advantages of McGregor’s Theory Y (Facilitator attitude to management?)

Answer 27

High motivation, more creativity, better business reputation, lower staff turnover, more positive industrial relations and increased profitability